123 Ward, Angus I.: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (McConaughy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:42 p. m.]
4618. Reference plight Consul General Ward at Mukden. Presumably, Department hesitant to issue strong refutation Communist charges while Ward kept incommunicado and unable to relate true version alleged incident.
If Department is considering issuance strong condemnation Communist action and wishes receive any evidence tending to show that Communists will not scruple to fabricate charges and incidents out of whole cloth when it serves their purposes, experience of this Consul General during siege by ex-Navy employees last July26 may be of interest. Press accounts at that time as well as at time of arrest of Vice Consul Olive earlier in July27 offer strong corroboration of theory that Communists do not hesitate to publish out-and-out lies in order to exploit situation at opportune moment.
Best local example of outright mendacity occurred when Shanghai and Nanking press gave their version of interview of undersigned, then Acting Consul General, with representatives ex-Navy employees on afternoon July 29. Actual fact was that at end of my statement to workers, one of them seized letter knife from my desk, worked himself into hysterical frenzy, brandished it about threatening me and then threatened to stab himself with it, shouting that it was better to commit suicide than to starve to death. I stood with my arms folded throughout this exhibition. Press version (see Nanking’s 1677, August 128) was that “deadlock lasted into evening when quite unexpectedly McConaughy revealed countenance of an imperialist and drew out a knife to threaten employees”.
If Department wishes to refer to this in official statement or on VOA as example of gross Communist fabrication of alleged incident, Consul General has no objection.